THQ cuts 20 staff from Marketing and Production, “none of the development teams are effected”

An internal email sent to employees by THQ president Jason Rubin, noting another round of lay-offs at the firm, has been forwarded to 3D Realms founder George Broussard, who in turn posted the notice on Twitter.

According to the leaked email, Rubin and THQ have been busy slashing corporate overhead at the firm, and 20 positions in the Marketing and Production department have been cut.

“As you know, it is my vision for THQ to enter into new markets though new distribution methodologies, and reaching those consumers in those markets will take a different approach to marketing,” reads the email from Rubin. “It is also vitally important that we improve our production methodologies and oversight so that we are shipping better titles, on budget and on time.

“In our quest to make these changes, I have been looking at the Marketing and Production structure at HQ along with the heads of those departments, Rich Williams and Ron Moravek. We have identified changes that need to be made and thus today we reduced the size of these departments by about 20 individuals.”

Rubin makes it clear that none of the development teams at THQ were given reductions, and the firm doesn’t “anticipate the reduction to have any impact whatsoever on the titles in production or the future scale of our output.”

“It is also quite likely that in the long run the company will hire new individuals with different skill sets in their stead,” Rubin’s email continued. “To put this in perspective, Volition alone anticipates growing by about 20 individuals in the next 12 months. This represents a shift of resources from oversight to production, and from centralization out to the teams.

“I would also like to note that these two departments were largely unaffected by the January reduction, so it makes some sense that their size and capabilities do not align with the changes made elsewhere.”

Rubin said while not a pleasant experience, restructuring is a necessary part of “improving and rebuilding,” THQ and asked that employees “remain focused on driving the business forward and look towards [the] future.”